Melodium
by The.Dragon.Singer
Summary: It's Nineteen Seventy-Six, and the Marauders are starting their Sixth Year. The War is starting to take a toll on the school; students divided, lines drawn. Carina just wants to have a little fun, pass her NEWTS, and then leave the country on tour with Celestina Warbeck. None of this war business for her, thanks. Quidditch League FF Competition, Season 7.


**QUIDDITCH LEAGUE FANFICTION COMPETITION: ROUND 1 ENTRY FOR CHASER 2 OF CHUDLEY CANNONS**

**TASK: **CHASER 2: "The Holy Grail" King Arthur must answer three questions correctly to cross the Bridge of Death. The Guardian gets a question wrong himself. **Write about a canonly clever character being outwitted. **

**PROMPTS:**

**2\. (Color) cream**

**3\. (Word) insufferable**

**14\. "If I had a Knut for every time (…) said that."**

**OUTWIT: verb (used with object), out·wit·ted, out·wit·ting. To get the better of by superior ingenuity or cleverness; outsmart: to outwit a dangerous opponent; **_**Archaic**_** . to surpass in wisdom or knowledge.**

**Word count (Microsoft Word): 1802**

* * *

The afternoon sun bounced off the crimson engine of the Hogwarts Express as it whisked through the Scottish countryside. It was a spectacularly lovely day for September, which put most of the students in good moods. Most students, of course, were not Lily Evans after a summer without James Potter. Smart classmates tried to steer clear of the inevitable explosion from the fire-haired Gryffindor, and Carina Selwyn was one of those. Carina had chosen a seat at the front of the Express, in one of the compartments by the reserved Prefect Carriage.

She had hoped to avoid the Potter-Evans argument, but alas, it was apparently not to be. The sixteen-year-old had just finished changing into her robes, proudly adorning the bronze and blue of Ravenclaw, and exited the loo when she heard the shriek of a furious Evans just up the corridor. Sighing heavily, Carina leaned against the wall and waited for the bomb to go off.

"YOU INSUFFERABLE PRAT! I WOULD RATHER DATE THE GIANT SQUID!" Evans screeched, storming out away from the Marauders' compartment and back towards the Prefect Carriage. Carina shook her head and counted to ten before she began her trek back to her compartment.

"If I had a Knut for every time I heard her say that…" The Ravenclaw murmured to herself as she slid closer to the Marauders' compartment. There was usually a backlash from an Evans Rejection, as a way Potter's friends tried to cheer him up. It was never enjoyable to be on the receiving end. Slowly, Carina inched towards the still partly open compartment door and then prepared to make a run for it. Except those plans were derailed when she heard what Black said.

"-put in the juice at breakfast?"

"Who do you think I am, Padfoot?" Remus Lupin sighed, exasperated. "of course I did. I even added the glitter against my better judgment. I have no idea what it'll do to the results, but it shouldn't hurt anyone."

"So, we're all clear on the plan then," Potter asked lowly, making Carina lean forward to listen. This is prime information; if she'd been more Slytherin like her grandfather, she'd sell the information she was getting. As it was, Ravenclaw had a book in their Common Room that kept track of all the school's greatest pranks. There was already a large section of the Book taken up with the Marauder's names. It was a goal of Carina's to have her name in there just once, and what better way than outwitting the Marauders using their own prank.

"Yes, Prongs. Me and Wormtail will go convince the elves to put this fabulous little potion in the morning's juice, while you keep a lookout and Remus deals with his prefect patrol." Sirius huffed. Carina grinned wickedly. House elves, huh? Good thing she knew where the kitchens were.

Quietly, Carina backed up a few steps and quietly opened the loo door. Smirking, she shut it loudly and sauntered past the Marauders' compartment. They barely glanced her way as Carina went past, and she resisted the urge to skip her way back to her compartment. She arrived just in time for the five-minute warning over the intercom and adjusted the cream headband in her hair.

The Express pulled smoothly into Hogsmeade Station and the older students all bustled into the self-drawn carriages. Carina thanked her luck as she climbed into a carriage carrying Lyra Wayne, her Herbology partner from their previous year. The bubbly Muggleborn was exactly what Carina needed at that moment; the other students in the carriage were Lyra's friends and very likeminded.

"Lyra," Carina greeted with a cheerful smile, sliding in beside the blonde. "How was your summer?"

"It was excellent!" Lyra chirped, clapping her hands enthusiastically. "I only just got back from California in time for the train!"

"You were visiting family, right?" The Ravenclaw asked, brushing her brown hair off her cheek as they went through a pothole. Lyra nodded.

"It was nice to see them! How was yours?" Carina smirked, knowing precisely what Lyra wanted to know. Despite being Muggleborn, the Hufflepuff teen was a huge fan of Carina's Nana, Celestina Warbeck.

"Nana toured around the Mediterranean this year, and Mum and I joined her." She replied dismissively. "Lyra, could I ask a favor?"

Lyra eyed the girl curiously. "What kind of favor?"

"Do you think I could sleep in the Hufflepuff Common Room tonight?" The group of Hufflepuffs in the carriage exchanged looks and furrowed their brows. Lyra pursed her lips and leaned over to mutter to the others. Carina leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms while she waited. She could figure out how to get to the kitchens from the Ravenclaw Tower if she had to, but it was much less risky to wait in the Hufflepuff Common Room until the early hours of the morning.

"Why?" One of Lyra's friends asked.

"I'm going to outwit the Marauders," Carina announced casually, though the triumphant grin on her face made the Hufflepuffs wary.

"I'm fine with it." The girl next to Lyra immediately announced. "I'll let you in even if the rest of them said no. It's about time someone did something about those pests."

The Hufflepuffs all grimaced at whatever incident they'd remembered and nodded enthusiastically. Lyra smiled, patting Carina's arm. "Just follow us after dinner!"

* * *

Carina slunk out of the Hufflepuff barrels and trotted over to the fruit bowl painting hanging several yards down the warmly lit corridor. Her fingers tickled the pear in the picture, causing it to giggle and the kitchen portrait to swing open.

There weren't many house elves awake at this hour, bordering three in the morning, but one immediately rushed over to the girl and introduced himself as Topsy, before asking what he could do for the nice Miss.

"Have a pair of boys come into the kitchen tonight?" She asked, eyes drifting over the counters and falling on a crate of glass vials in the corner. Topsy nodded, noticing where she was looking.

"Misters Black and Pettigrew came in and asked Topsy and Zilly to put a potion in the goblets!" he said proudly, puffing up his chest.

"I've just seen them, Topsy," Carina claimed, tucking her dark hair behind her ear. "I think they made a mistake in their instructions, you see. I thought I would rush over and fix it for them."

"You is such a nice girl, Miss!" Topsy cried, his bulbous eyes watering. "Tell Topsy how to fix it! Topsy will make sure to do exactly as you say!"

"Mister Black and Mister Pettigrew said to put it in the goblets, right? They didn't mean the whole school, though; just the goblets of the Marauders. Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter."

"Just those four?" Topsy checked, looking at all the potion they'd been given. Carina nodded enthusiastically.

"Just those four!"

"Alright, nice Miss!" Topsy nodded. "Would Miss like to go back to the Bird Tower now?"

"Would you take me Topsy? That's very kind of you!"

* * *

Carina slid onto the Ravenclaw bench, the one facing the Gryffindor table and absentmindedly reached for a muffin. A book was slipped from her bag and propped on the pitcher of pumpkin juice in front of her, one of this year's textbooks. The Great Hall was filled with happily chattering students, and the Marauders were already at the table and halfway through their breakfast. The Ravenclaw teen feigned interest in her book, but carefully watched the quartet of troublemakers.

Potter, despite his many rejections, asked Evans for the jam by her elbow and a date. He got neither, and Evans would still rather date the giant squid if her shouting was to be believed. Along the Ravenclaw table, several sickles changed hands. The ongoing Potter-Evans bet was still going as strong as it had been when a pair of Fifth Years had started it in Carina's First Year.

"JAMES!" Peter yelped, practically leaping out of his seat. One of his fingers shot out to point at the other teen's head. "James, your head!"

"What?" Potter patted his messy black hair. At least, he would have been patting his hair, except that what had been in those potions had turned his hair into lilacs. Not just any lilacs, of course, bright purple ones covered in glitter. Showers of sparkles fell from the flowers as he cried out and jumped to his feet, shock all over his handsome face. Carina smirked as Remus Lupin followed Peter's example and sputtered out Black's nickname.

The womanizer's long hair had turned into Medusa-like snapdragons that spat glitter at anything three feet from their horrified host. His eyebrows and eyelashes had turned bright pink. Pettigrew was the next Marauder to turn into a garden; his short dirty blond hair sprouted bright yellow buttercups, and the sun that shone through the enchanted ceiling threw golden shadows over anyone nearby. A loud sneeze immediately expelled glitter from his nose, and Carina held back a chuckle at the disgusted look on Black's face when the cloud of gold sparkles hit him. Lupin's head was the last to morph, turning his hair into yellow and white lantanas, complete with a lovely glittery butterfly that fluttered around his head.

"What did you do!?" Potter exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air and glaring at Black and Pettigrew.

"Exactly what we were supposed to!" Black replied, also standing now. His snapdragons wove around his head, and one pair at the back tried to get at Lupin's butterfly, which was now hiding on the far side of the prefects head. Pettigrew sneezed again, covering his eggs with gold glitter.

"We never had a problem before!"

Carina, along with most of the students, had all stopped to watch what the four were doing. Quietly, Carina pointed her wand at the Marauders and murmured a spell under her breath. The excess glitter around the four Gryffindors rose into the air between them and swirled around before forming the words, "HA HA HA!"

Whispers sprang to life amongst the students, speculating what had happened. It was evident that whatever prank the Marauders had tried to set up had failed and instead had rebounded to only include themselves. Someone at the Slytherin table started to clap, and soon laughter sprang out of the green-and-silver clad students.

Someone had _finally_ gotten the Marauders back and had used their _own_ prank to do it.

Carina mentally gave herself a pat on the back and slid her wand into her sleeve. The student next to her noticed and nudged her with his elbow. Carina turned to look at him and cringed. She'd sat next to the Head Boy without seeing; Salazar's spit, this wasn't good.

"Ten points to Ravenclaw." He whispered.

Or maybe it was.


End file.
